Tata Tele on CAG Report: AGR Definition Sub-Judice

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd on Friday, 22 December, said the definition of adjusted gross revenue on which licence fees and other charges are paid to the government is sub-judice and the recent CAG report on under payment is based on its own interpretation.

There has been an industry dispute since 1999-2000 between licensees and the licensor, ie, the Department of Telecommunications, on the scope of the definition of AGR, the telecom firm said.

"In the last 16 years, various judicial authorities, including the honourable Supreme Court, have given multiple judgements on aspects of this matter but it has not finally concluded and is currently pending before the Supreme Court," TTML said reacting to BSE query on recent CAG report.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its latest report said that Tata Teleservices, Telenor, Videocon, Qaudrant (a Videocon group firm) and Reliance Jio are among five telecom firms which have understated revenues by over Rs 14,800 crore, resulting in a revenue shortfall of nearly Rs 2,578 crore to the exchequer.